Let’s start off by saying that my Chinese/Hong Kong film viewing… isn’t, just isn’t. LOL Of all the nominees, I have only seen two. Hahaha, I’m a little ashamed of that considering I’ve seen over 120 movies last year. Though, there were 3 other films I wanted to watch before the nominations were announced: Love in a Puff, Gallants, Under The Hawthorn Tree, and Detective Dee ;D
And I’ve decided I should watch Reign of Assassins with my dad, and Hot Summer Days with my mom. LOL
Also, Tetsuya Nakashima’s Kokuhaku was crowned as Best Asian Film, beating the likes of Aftershocks and Monga.
Anyway, we’re here because of the Best Song category, which had the most artists I was familiar with, and we’re going to be looking at each of them and their respective songs~ First, the winner:
I can feel it in the air. Award season is approaching. I think Indie Spirit Awards are also done with submissions, and their nominations should arrive come early December.
In the meantime, the Academy Awards has released the list of the 65 countries (or not-countries… Greenland?) that will be competing for 5 spots as “Best Foreign” nominees, as well as their 8 short documentaries.
Here are some of the reviews of the ones I’ve seen.
Let’s talk wild guess predictions in here. Which countries will be the 5 chosen ones?
Mexico’s Biutiful seems like an easy assumption.
China’s Aftershocks seems to be a good candidate for several reasons besides “film”. Whatever your thoughts on melodrama are, I mean… you really need to be a sour grape not to feel something for the family in that film. Either that, or you’ve never been in a natural disaster. Having said that, it is because it’s a melodrama that it’s perfect for Oscar. Moving family drama that deals with catastrophe with a really powerful and magnificently handled Earthquake scene that was a box office hit in China. It’s just good business.
Also, China being nominated is controversial. Anything to do with China since 2008 is controversial. Controversial always brings ratings. Also nominating China is just plain good business. If China gets nominated – I dunno, what are the chances of some state channel broadcasting the Oscar? Just imaging 2/3 of China’s internet population watches the Oscar that night. That’s 200 million viewers. Anything in China is big.
If there’s no China, it must be another cheese movie… like South Korea’s A Barefoot Dream. An underdog story of a kiddie football team and a coach. It shall make you feel happy xD
Canada’s Incendies?
and… I dunno what else. Peru’s chances? From what I have seen, and what I’ve heard. It could very well get into the nine before they select the final five. I’ll have a better grasp once the 9 are out xD
Some very exciting news – First, it seems I’ve seen more than TWO of the Foreign submissions this year LOL. Of course that’s without considering the 9 films that will go through the other stage, and the 5 that will be chosen. I’ll probably get a 1/5 ratio at the most.
Second of all… China chose Xiaogang Feng’s earthquake drama Aftershocks to represent them. *jumpy claps* Now, this is my weakness. I love tear-jerking dramas. Anyone who’s lived through an earthquake should and will be affected by the story, anyone who’s lived through a hurricane, typhoon, any catastrophic natural disaster. Aftershocks is for you. But this is not to say that Aftershocks is exploitative of the tragedy, because this “earthquake” film is little about the earthquake and all about the people affected by it.
Considering the technical achievement this is, and how human and audience-friendly this drama is, I think this might have high chances of passing to the “chosen 9”. *crosses fingers*
Here are some of the submissions I’ve seen and reviewed:
While reading my usual news, I found out that Kokuhaku (aka. Confessions) by Tetsuya Nakashima has been chosen by Japan as their submission for the upcoming Academy Awards. I haven’t even seen the film, but I really thought they would choose something like Norwegian Wood, which seems to be getting in all the major festivals, while Kokuhaku… has been, well… doing well in Japanese Box Office. So it’s a surprise.
